NYWIFT Members at DOC NYC 2019

DOC NYC has released the full festival line up for its tenth edition, running from November 6-15, 2019 at the IFC Center in Greenwich Village, Chelsea’s SVA Theatre and Cinépolis Chelsea.

This year’s festival will include:
– 300+ films and events
– 28 world premieres
– 27 U.S. or North American premieres
– 500+ filmmakers and special guests in person

This year’s festival is dedicated to the memory of D.A. Pennebaker, who was a constant presence at DOC NYC since its first year until his death this past summer. In 2014, at the festival’s inaugural Visionaries Tribute, he was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award along with his partner Chris Hegedus. This year’s festival poster features a photograph of Pennebaker taken by Don MacSorley in 1967 during the filming of the classic documentary Monterey Pop.

There are 18 different NYWIFT Members showing 21 different films at this year’s festival! Congratulations to them all!

The nominations below are sorted alphabetically. Click pictures for more information.

Masters, offering a spotlight on today’s nonfiction auteurs, which features the newest film from two-time Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple, Desert One, about the Iran hostage crisis; Alan Berliner’s Letter to the Editor, a profound visual essay on photojournalism; and a special presentation of Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker’s Town Bloody Hall (1979), on the infamous 1971 debate between a panel of feminists and Norman Mailer, screened in memory of D.A. Pennebaker.

Investigations, thought-provoking investigative nonfiction, which includes the world premiere of The Queen’s Man, following the efforts of the former bodyguard of the wife of the Shah of Iran to recover her stolen art collection; the international premiere of Coastal Road Killer, a new true-crime series from the creators of the hit Netflix series Shadow of Truth; and the US premiere of The Pickup Game, an exposé on the billion-dollar industry that teaches men how to manipulate women into bed;

Green Screens, environmentally focused films, which include the NYC premieres of The Great Green Wall, about efforts to plant trees across Africa; and The Story of Plastic, an investigation into the unceasing production of plastic; and

Food for Thought, culinary stories, including the world premiere of Laura Naylor’s Vas-y Coupe!, an observational portrait of the harvest of a family-owned vineyard in France’s Champagne region.

Returning sections include high-profile Special Events; competitions Viewfinders and Metropolis; national and global takes in American Perspectives and International Perspectives; and thematic sections Portraits (profiling singular individuals), Modern Family (on unconventional families), New World Order (on today’s most urgent issues),In the System (inside looks at institutions), Fight the Power (on activism), Art & Design (on art, photography and design), Behind the Scenes (on filmmaking), and Sonic Cinema (on music). Short-form content (114 films in total) is represented by the festival’s Shorts Competition and DOC NYC U (showcasing student work), selected by Programmer Opal H. Bennett.

These sections join the previously announced Short List: Features titles, highlighting 15 of the year’s award contender documentary features; Short List: Shorts, a group of 12 of the year’s leading nonfiction shorts; and Winner’s Circle, a new section highlighting seven features that have won awards at major festivals, including Oscar-qualifying international events.

Congratulations again to all the NYWIFT Members whose films will be showing this year!

New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) advocates for equality in the moving image industry and supports women in every stage of their careers. As the preeminent entertainment industry association for women in New York, NYWIFT energizes women by illuminating their achievements, presenting training and professional development programs, awarding scholarships and grants, and providing access to a supportive community of peers.